I ran OpenBSD for a bit when it was popular. Berkeley put out some good stuff, but they kinda fell of the leading edge. Not before OSX stole the good bits of course.

Ubuntu is a good distro to learn on, but to get back to the OP I would install the service pack asap just to keep the malware at bay. The leading trend is to look as the holes M$ is fixing in the patch and release viril to attack those holes.

I always wondered who would win in a fight between the BSD devil and the Linux penguin.